Earth-boring tools for forming wellbores in subterranean earth formations may include a plurality of cutting elements secured to a body include, such as, for example, fixed-cutter earth-boring rotary drill bits (also referred to as “drag bits”). Such fixed-cutter bits include a plurality of cutting elements that are fixedly attached to a bit body of the drill bit, conventionally in pockets formed in blades and other exterior portions of the bit body. Other earth-boring tools may include rolling cone earth-boring drill bits, which include a plurality of roller cones attached to bearing pins on legs depending from a bit body. The roller cones may include cutting elements (sometimes called “teeth”) milled or otherwise formed on the roller cones, which may include hardfacing on the outer surfaces of the cutting elements, or the roller cones may include cutting elements (sometimes called “inserts”) attached to the roller cones, conventionally in pockets formed in the roller cones.
The cutting elements may be placed in the pockets in a variety of ways. For example, cutting elements may be front-loaded or top-loaded into the pockets. U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0223622, published Sep. 18, 2008, to Duggan et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, discloses placing cutting elements in pockets by top-loading. Briefly, a cutting element top-loaded into a pocket may be disposed over the pocket and lowered into the pocket, similar to the way bread may be lowered into a toaster. Typically, top-loading requires that the uppermost portion of the pocket be as large as, or larger than, the cutting element to permit the cutting element to enter the pocket from above. U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,699, issued Aug. 2, 1994, to Thigpen et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference, discloses placing cutting elements in pockets by front-loading. Briefly, a cutting element front-loaded into a pocket may be aligned with a rotationally leading opening of the pocket and slid into the pocket, similar to the way a bullet may be slid into the chamber of a conventional revolver. Frequently, front-loading involves aligning a central axis of a cylindrical cutting element with a central axis of a complementarily cylindrical pocket and sliding the cutting element into the pocket.
Front-loading cutting elements may be difficult or impossible in some configurations, such as, for example, where a distance between two rotationally adjacent blades is smaller than the overall thickness of the cutting elements and the angle at which the cutting elements are inserted into the pockets does not permit the cutting elements to clear rotationally leading blades while being inserted into the pockets of rotationally following blades. In other words, narrow junk slots between adjacent blades may not permit cutting elements to enter the junk slots for front-loading into pockets that have openings into those junk slots. In such situations, cutting elements having a relatively small thickness or large back rake angles may be used to permit the cutting elements to be front-loaded. However, such approaches may shorten the useful life of the cutting elements in the first instance due to the relatively small volume of cutting element material or, in the second instance reduce the rate of penetration because of the relatively passive engagement of the cutting elements with the earth formation.